Mirages of Perdition
by PenPatronus
Summary: Something happened to Castiel when he rescued Sam from Lucifer's cage. Can Dean save Cass from his own hallucinations? Hurt/comfort AU of the end of season 5 DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
1. Found

**Summary:** Something happened to Castiel when he rescued Sam from Lucifer's cage. 4 months in Hell feels like 40 years to a human. For an angel it's like 4000. Can Dean save Cass from his own hallucinations? Hurt / comfort, AU of the end of season 5, can be read as pre-slash.

**Author's Note:** This is an AU. The story starts after Cass has rescued Sam from Hell. He took him straight to Bobby's house.

**Mirages of Perdition  
><strong>PenPatronus  
>Chapter One<br>**Found**

After Dean reunited with the resurrected Sam and assured himself that his brother was safe and comfortably asleep on Bobby's couch, he asked the elder hunter if Castiel was still there. Dean wanted to thank the angel for rescuing his brother.

Hell, he wanted to hug him.

Bobby sighed and stared down at his feet. "He's locked in the panic room," he said.

"What? Why is he down there?"

"You'll see why."

Dean started to ask questions but Bobby just waved them aside, so he went downstairs and knocked on the door. "Cass?" he called. "It's Dean. You ok, man?" He peeked through the flap and saw a ripped, singed trench coat on the floor and a blood-soaked black suit coat on the bunk. Castiel's tie had been tossed across the lampshade of the single light in the room. Dean's fists tightened with anxiety. "Cass? Dude, can I come in?"

Dean waited for the angel's permission but all he got was silence so he opened the iron door and shut it quietly behind him. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. Finally he saw a figure sitting against the far wall. Castiel's white shirt was torn in a dozen places. The visible skin on his arms, chest and neck showed second and third degree burns. Blood slowly dripped from a cut in his forehead. It trickled down his cheekbone to his chin, fell off and landed in his hands, which were folded in his lap.

Dean's stomach clenched in horror at the sight. "Cass?" he whispered. He approached the angel like he was a rabid animal about to pounce. The elder Winchester cleared his throat and said louder, "Cass!"

Castiel slowly raised his eyes and squinted. He swallowed several times, blinked, and whispered, "Are we in Hell?"

Dean's lips parted and he frowned. "No, Cass, we're at Bobby's. On earth." Dean squatted on his haunches in front of the angel.

Cass frowned slightly and licked his lips. "I need to find them."

"Find who?"

Cass didn't answer. Instead he pulled himself to his feet and slammed his right fist against the wall, then his left. When that didn't break the iron, he kicked at it. Blood from his knuckles splattered across the floor. "Dean!" he yelled. "_DEAN_!"

"Cass!" Dean grabbed his arm. "Cass – what the hell – I'm right here!"

Castiel shoved Dean aside and threw his shoulder against the wall again and again. His shouts became screams: "Sam! _SAM!_ **DEAN**!"

The iron door opened behind them and Bobby entered the room. "Bobby, help!" Dean yelled. He tried to grab onto Cass again and once again landed on his ass. "He's going to hurt himself!"

Instead of grabbing Castiel, Bobby snatched Dean. He pulled him to the other side of the bunk. "He's hallucinating, Dean. He'll wear himself out in a minute."

"Hallucinating? Angels hallucinate?"

"Cass has been since he delivered Sam. He was fine for a few minutes – wounded, but still himself – then he called me a demon, attacked me, even tried to attack Sam. He snapped out of it after awhile and I coaxed him down here."

"He's hurt bad," Dean observed. "Why hasn't he healed himself?"

"He's out of angel mojo, I reckon. Dean, something must have happened to him in Hell," said Bobby. "Something nasty messed with his head. And…" Bobby's voice trailed off and he shook his head.

"And what?" Dean asked through clenched teeth. "Bobby, _what_?"

Bobby sighed. "Dean, Cass said that he had been down in Hell since the night Sam fell in."

Icicles trickled behind Dean's eyeballs. "Bobby, that was four months ago. You're saying that Cass was searching for Sam in Hell for forty years?"

"No," said Bobby. "Cass said that, for an angel, it was like 4,000 years. Who knows what could have happened to him in that time."

"Shit," was Dean's response. "We have to help him, Bobby. We have to."

"I know. I just wish I knew how."

It took another ten minutes for Castiel to run out of steam. He stopped shouting and punching and braced himself against the wall, his forehead pressed against the iron and his shoulders shaking as he gasped for breath. "Dean," he whispered.

Suddenly, Cass collapsed to his knees.

Dean shook Bobby away and dashed over. Gently he lifted Cass up and cradled him in his arms. The angel's blue eyes opened half-way, focused on Dean, then widened to twice their size.

"_Dean_?" Castiel recognized him.

"It's ok, Cass. I've got you. I'm here."

"I found you."

"Yes, you did. And you're not in Hell anymore."

"I found you," Cass repeated. "Dean, it took lifetimes for me to get to Sam. When I finally did, Lucifer — Lucifer…" Castiel shook his head and his eyelids drooped.

"Cass?" Dean whispered. "What did Lucifer do to you? What happened?"

Cass tried to speak and failed. His eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp in Dean's arms.

**To Be Continued**


	2. Adam, Michael and Jimmy

**Mirages of Perdition  
><strong>PenPatronus  
>Chapter Two<br>**Adam, Michael and Jimmy**

"I don't remember," Sam said as he handed Dean another roll of gauze. He bit into a sandwich and shook his head in wonder. "I remember falling into the hole, and then there's nothing until I woke up on Bobby's floor with him and Cass standing over me."

Dean gently wrapped Castiel's right hand in the gauze and taped it down. "Sammy, I know it's hard to talk about. You know that I know. But we need to know what you saw. It might help us figure out what happened to Cass."

"Dean, I swear," Sam said through a mouthful of ham and ketchup, "I don't remember anything."

Dean nodded, not pressing the issue. He wet down another washcloth and started rubbing the dried blood off of Cass' upper arm. The angel lay unconscious on the bed while the Winchesters patched him up. Sam had just finished wiping down the angel's legs and bare feet while Dean worked on his chest and arms. The wound on Castiel's head was already bandaged and gallons of aloe had been rubbed on the blistered burns.

"So you really do feel ok," Dean asked without looking up at Sam.

Sam thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "I feel…normal. Whatever Cass did, well…I'm fine, Dean."

"Good." Dean used dental floss to stitch up one last gash on Cass' shoulder, then he gathered up the medical supplies.

"You coming upstairs?" Sam asked.

"Nah," Dean said while he re-buttoned Cass' white dress shirt. "I, uh, you know, I want to be here when he wakes up."

"Right." Sam watched Dean rearrange the pillow under Cass' head for a moment, then ascended the stairs, leaving his brother alone with the injured angel.

Castiel stirred just a few minutes later. He stretched his neck, bent each joint individually, licked his lips and then slowly opened his eyes. Dean watched quietly and gave Cass a soft smile when they made eye contact. After a minute or so, Cass said, "I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again."

"You know who I am?"

The angel nodded. "Dean."

"Do you know where you are?"

"I know I'm not in Hell anymore," Cass whispered.

"Good enough." Dean took a deep breath and stared down at his shoes. "You need anything?"

Cass looked at the bandages. "You've done enough. Thank you."

Dean snorted and shook his head. "Cass, you rescued my brother from Hell. I'm the one who should be thanking you."

Castiel's face paled slightly. He swallowed and then turned onto his side so that his back was facing Dean.

Dean frowned. "Cass?" Dean rose from his chair and sat on the side of the bed. He hesitated for a moment, then put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Cass, you want to tell me what happened?"

"I would prefer not to. I was telling Bobby about it when I started hallucinating."

"Yeah." Dean sighed and looked down at his lap but didn't remove his hand. "Has that ever happened to you before? Like after you saved me?"

From over Cass' shoulder, Dean saw him raise his bandaged hand to his face and stare at it like he had never seen it before. "No. But rescuing Sam was a lot harder than rescuing you." Cass curled in on himself, right into a fetal position. He shut his eyes.

Dean cleared his throat. "Cass, I know it probably sucked down there. And I know...Bobby said it was like thousands of years for you. And I don't know how it is for angels but I finally got it through my head that for humans it's healthy to talk about this stuff. So, uh, maybe you should try talking about it."

Castiel opened his eyes but remained silent for a good five minutes. Although it wasn't in his nature to be patient, Dean waited. Finally, Cass spoke.

"There are ten levels of Hell between earth and Lucifer's cage. It took me hundreds of years to fight my way through each layer. I battled demons that…" Cass winced and fingered the burns on his arm. "When I reached the cage, I freed Michael."

Dean's jaw dropped. "You let loose the archangel who probably wants to murder all of us? Dude, are you insane?"

Castiel seemed to not hear him. "I freed Michael and then I killed him."

Dean clenched his teeth together so that he wouldn't interrupt again.

"After that…Dean, I wanted to save your brother Adam as well, but there was nothing left of him…After that I took Adam's body as my vessel. I was able to infiltrate Lucifer's cage in disguise."

"Lucifer thought you were Michael?" Dean thought about it for a long moment. "Wait, if you were in Adam's body, what happened to your vessel? What happened to Jimmy?"

Castiel closed his eyes again. "I couldn't save Sam from Lucifer and protect Jimmy at the same time." Cass winced again and hugged his stomach. "The demons took him. He was tortured."

Dean hung his head. "That's what you're feeling, isn't it? What the demons did to Jimmy?"

Castiel went completely quiet and still. After a long moment, Dean spoke his name, and then again when the angel was still silent.

Suddenly Cass rolled off the bed and ran full-speed at the wall. He bounced off it, stumbled, then pressed his back against it as if to get as far away as possible. "Get the hell away from me!" he shouted.

Dean raised his hands in surrender. "Cass! Come on, man, you're hallucinating again! Snap out of it!"

**To Be Continued**


	3. The Angelic Demon

**Mirages of Perdition  
><strong>PenPatronus  
>Chapter Three<br>**The Angelic Demon**

When Castiel woke up he was surprised to see Bobby at his bedside. The hunter scooted his chair back several inches. He said nothing.

"I'm not going to attack you," Cass assured him.

"If you do, we'll just hit you with a tranquilizer again." Bobby gestured at a dart gun sitting across his lap. "This sucker takes out elephants, ghouls, and psychotic angels. Well, the first 6 shots didn't, but the seventh did. And just to be safe…." Bobby pointed at a bucket of Jerusalem oil at his feet and the lighter beside it.

Castiel tasted chemicals in the back of his throat. He scrunched up his nose and forced himself to swallow. "How is Sam feeling?"

Bobby shrugged. "Seems fine. He's confused, though. We all are, Cass. Why does Dean remember Hell but Sam doesn't?"

"I put up a veil in his mind. His memories are locked away."

"You can do that?" Bobby asked. "Wait – why didn't you do that for Dean?"

"My superiors wouldn't allow it." Cass slowly sat up, shook his t-shirt and jeans away from his sweaty skin and then folded his legs beneath him, Indian style. "But after I rebelled I did speak to him about it."

"And?"

"Dean said that those memories have shaped who he is today. His thoughts, his personality, even his soul. He's afraid that if he loses the, he'll lose much of himself."

Bobby ground his teeth together. "Well, maybe I'll just have a little chat with him myself." Bobby rose from his chair and was about to leave when suddenly he turned back to the angel. "Cass, if you can put up a – what did you call it? A veil? If you can put up a veil in Sam's mind, can you put one in Jimmy's? If his experience in Hell is driving you cuckoo, block his memories!"

Cass sat up straighter. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stared thoughtfully at the floor. After a moment he said, "You humans never cease to surprise me."

"You think it will work?"

"I don't see why not. Shield your eyes. I'll have to briefly leave Jimmy's body."

Bobby left the panic room and shut the door behind him. The peephole slid open slightly and Bobby watched as light flashed through it. When it disappeared, Bobby re-entered the room. He found Cass sitting right where he left him, looking pale and shocked and gasping for breath.

"Cass? Did it work?"

"No," Cass gasped. "I…I couldn't leave Jimmy's body."

"What? Why not?"

"This is far worse than I imagined," Cass whispered mostly to himself. "Why didn't I sense it…"

"Cass!" Bobby knelt in front of him and forced the angel to make eye contact with him. "What's wrong?"

"Jimmy was tortured for years. Do you know what happens to a human when he's in Hell for too long?"

"Ruby told Dean that they slowly lose their humanity. Eventually they become –"

"Demons," Cass whispered. He touched his chest right over Jimmy's heart. "Jimmy is transforming into a demon."

Bobby blinked, then ran to the staircase. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Dean! Sam! Boys, get down here!"

After Bobby and Castiel explained everything to the Winchesters, Dean said "Shouldn't Jimmy's transformation stop? He's not in Hell anymore!"

"He thinks he is. That's all that matters at this point." Cass sighed , rested his elbows on his knees and hung his head. "And when he thinks he's in Hell, so do I. We're connected."

"So does that mean…" Sam twisted his fingers in his hair. "Does that mean you'll become a demon too?"

"Not completely. I'm still an angel." Cass shook his head. "But I will be trapped inside a demon's vessel."

"Cass, we'll figure something up." Dean started to sit beside Cass on the bed but the angel immediately got up.

"Stay away from me." Cass moved to the wall and leaned back against it. "I don't want to hurt you, Dean." He looked at Sam and Bobby. "I need to speak with Dean privately, please."

The three men looked at each other and then Bobby and Sam went upstairs without a word. Dean crossed his arms against his chest. "What is it, Cass?"

Castiel began to pace. His bare feet were quiet against the cement. "Dean… Remember when Sam was drinking demon blood and you decided to break his addiction even if it killed him?"

Dean shifted his weight from his left foot to his right and stared at the floor. "Yeah."

"You said that was line you wouldn't cross. You wouldn't let him become a monster."

Dean felt an anxious cramp in his stomach. "Yeah?"

Cass was silent for a long moment. He suddenly stopped moving. "Do you have an archangel blade?"

Dean was across the room and in Cass' face in less than a second. "**No**, Cass! That's _not_ an option!"

"It's the only option that I see!" Cass shouted. "Dean, you have to kill me before the demon rises. It will have access to my powers – access to Heaven! You have to destroy me before it's too late!"

"You can't ask me to do that!"

"Then I'll do it myself." Cass tried to walk away but Dean grabbed him by his t-shirt and shoved him against the wall. "Listen to me! We are not at that point. Give us time to research. Maybe we'll find an exorcism or another angel who can help."

"Dean, I'm already dead. If you use an exorcism or the knife, it will probably destroy me, too." Cass shook his head and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Dean, you are my closest friend. I care about you more than anyone else in the universe. But you have to let me go. I'm already dead," he repeated.

Tears filled Dean's eyes. He didn't bother to wipe them away. "I just got one brother back," he whispered. "I can't lose the other. We're not saying goodbye, Cass. This isn't over." Dean let go of him and stamped away.

"Sammy!" he yelled when he reached the stairs.

Sam's face appeared at the door. "Yeah?"

"I need you to gather every angel blade we have. Take the Impala to some random field and bury them there."

Sam opened his mouth to ask for an explanation, but closed it when he got a good look at Dean's face. He gave a salute and disappeared.

Dean sighed with relief and went back to the panic room. "Sorry, Cass, looks like you won't be killing yourself with –"

Dean stopped short. The panic room was on fire. Cass found the oil and lighter that Bobby left behind. While Dean was gone he poured a circle around himself and lit it. Dean realized what was happening just as Castiel started walking toward the flames.

"_**Cass, no**_!"

Dean jumped.

**To Be Continued**


	4. The Demonic Angel

**Mirages of Perdition  
><strong>PenPatronus  
>Chapter Four<br>**The Demonic Angel**

Castiel was an inch away from killing himself when Dean dove through the flames and tackled him.

Cass fell straight back like a chopped tree and cracked his skull on the cement. Dean's momentum carried him head over heels past Castiel where he landed on his back right in the fire. Dean screamed. He tried to get up but there was oil on his shoes and he slipped.

"Dean!"

Cass grabbed his friend's wrist with both hands and pulled. Dean pushed his back against the cement to suffocate the fire on his jacket while Cass patted down his shirt and jeans. He rolled against Cass so that the angel could get the last of sparks that the hunter would see. They ended up in a dog pile with Dean lying on his stomach across Cass' lap and Castiel hugging his shoulders. Dean trembled with pain and blood poured down Cass' neck and arm.

"Dean…" Cass gasped, struggling for breath, "you…idjit."

"That's my line," said Bobby, who appeared at the door with a pack of rock salt. He poured it over every bit of oil in the circle, snuffing the flames out. "What the hell is going on?" Bobby demanded.

"Cass was trying to put himself out of _our_ misery," Dean groaned. He wrapped his arms around Cass' neck and pulled his friend into an awkward hug. They stayed like that for a few seconds…

…and then he punched the angel in the face.

"Don't you ever do that again, Cass!"

Shocked, Cass winced and massaged his bruised chin while Bobby helped Dean up and over to the bed. When Bobby got a good look at the burns all over Dean's body, he cursed. "Cass, go upstairs to the bathroom. There's another medical kit under the sink."

"No," Dean wheezed. "Don't let him out of your sight, Bobby."

"That was the last of our oil and Sam already went out the door with the swords when I heard you two screaming," said Bobby. He ripped off the rest of Dean's shirt to expose all of the skin. "Cass, go!"

Castiel hesitated for a minute but then he got to his feet and rushed up the stairs. He was halfway there when it happened.

It felt like a giant fist wrapped around his/Jimmy's heart and squeezed. Every bone in his body turned to mush. He grabbed onto the railing but couldn't keep himself from collapsing to his knees. He tasted sulfur in his mouth and fire burned his lungs.

The demon was rising.

Cass' Grace throbbed like a fresh wound. "No," he gasped. "Not yet…Dean…" He looked back down at the panic room and willed his body to retuen to it. If he just got himself inside the pentacle Bobby had painted on the floor then at least the demon would be contained.

Castiel tried to stand up but failed. He was about to fall back down but what felt like puppet strings pulled him to his feet. Cass had no control over his body. He was trapped in his vessel with the demon.

Sam mentally kicked himself. He'd loaded every angel blade they had into the Impala and then accidentally dropped his keys into the trunk just as he shut it. He sighed and walked back toward the house. Dean had the other set of keys.

As Sam reached for the basement door it suddenly swung open to reveal Castiel.

Castiel with black eyes.

Sam had less than a second to figure out what to do. There wasn't enough time to really do anything intelligent. He just launched his body forward and prayed. The demon was caught off guard. It tried to duck out of the way but Sam wrapped his arms around Cass' waist. Both rolled down the steps like a growing snowball until they landed in a heap with Sam on top.

"Dean!" Sam yelled. "Bobby!"

Bobby came out with Dean right behind him. They didn't question Sam, just joined him in dragging Castiel toward the panic room. The blindsided demon got his wits together right before they threw him in. He raised his palm and knocked Bobby to the other side of the basement. The demon screamed with Castiel's voice but didn't manage to summon his powers again before Dean and Sam tossed him into the panic room. He got to his feet immediately and launched himself at the Winchesters, but the devil's trap contained him.

Dean knelt on one knee and lowered his head, gasping for breath. Sam ran to Bobby and helped the elder hunter up. "Everybody ok?" Bobby asked. Dean's face was pale with pain from his burns. Sam's wrist was sprained from his fall and bruises were already forming on his arms. "Well, are we all in once piece at least?"

"Winchesters!" a voice hissed. It sounded like Cass if his throat was full of gravel. Surprised to hear their name, the hunters moved to the doorway of the panic room. The demon stood on the edge of the pentacle and fisted his hands. "Yes, I know who you are. I've existed for three minutes I already know everything about you. My father is watching out for me."

Sam and Bobby exchanged frightened glances. Dean just stared.

"Castiel sends his regrets." The demon pouted his lips and cocked his head to the side. "Poor little angel. For a moment he thought he could handle me – that he was more powerful. But he didn't realize that Father made me stronger than other demons. Stronger than one measly angel."

Dean snorted. "Not strong enough to leave that room, though."

The demon snarled at Dean, then at the star on the ceiling, the iron walls, the symbols drawn everywhere. He raised his palm and tested the enchantments around him but he could barely breathe the air. He screeched furiously.

Bobby slammed the iron door shut and locked it.

Dean sat down on the bottom step and sighed. "Son of a bitch."

"There's nothing you could have done, son," said Bobby. Dean's only reaction was to hang his head and sigh again.

"Now what?" Sam asked. He leaned against one of the basement pillars and folded his arms against his stomach. "Should we try an exorcism first? Or the knife?"

Bobby took a long look at Dean and then made the call: "Nothing. Nothing right now. Nothing tonight." He stood by Dean and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "You two go sleep. I'll take the first watch. He's not going anywhere. We'll figure it out in the morning."

It was obvious that Dean was beyond tired because he just nodded and then climbed the stairs. He fell asleep the moment he lay down on the couch.

**To Be Continued**


	5. Master, Murderer

**Mirages of Perdition  
><strong>PenPatronus  
>Chapter Five<br>**Master, Murderer**

Dean knew that he was dreaming, but he had no idea where he was. He stood in a field watching a man fly a kite. The sky was brilliant blue, the sun warm on the back of his neck and the grass a striking shade of green. A foreign sense of peace settled over him like a blanket.

Suddenly a hand grasped his shoulder from behind. Dean turned. "Cass."

"Hello, Dean," Castiel said. He looked like himself. He looked well, but sad.

"Hey." Dean swept his eyes over the scenery once more. "Cass, where are we?"

"In one of my memories. This is a heaven, my favorite one."

Dean nodded. "Nice place. Cozy. So... you brought me here to give me the tour?"

"We don't have enough time for that, unfortunatly." Cass looked up at the kite and studied it as if he was seeing it for the last time. "I'm very weak, Dean. I won't be able to hold this connection for very long. Soon the demon will overpower me."

"We'll find a way to save you, Cass. You know that. Not matter how long it takes."

"It's only a matter of time before the demon will be able to use my powers. He'll be able to break the devil's trap." Castiel stepped closer until he was almost nose to nose with Dean. "You have to use the knife now, before it's too late."

"You said that you and the demon are connected. You said the knife would kill you both."

"I did." Cass bit his lower lips and looked down at his shoes. "There's something I want to tell you. This might be my last chance."

Dean crossed his arms against his chest. "Are we really going to do this? Are we really going to do the goodbye scene?"

Cass ignored that. "I know now what you went through in Hell, Dean. What Alastair did to you. I just wanted to tell you that it is... impressive that you didn't break sooner."

Dean said nothing. He just listened. Cass turned his back on Dean and started to walk.

"It took thirty years for Alastair to break you. For me it..." Castiel sighed and shoved his fists into the pockets of his trench coat. "I broke under Lucifer's torture after only a few months and I didn't recover for two thousand years."

Dean swallowed bile. "So it wasn't only Jimmy's memories that were causing the hallucinations." He hesitated for a moment, then jogged forward so that he was walking alongside Cass. "What do you mean you broke?"

"I lost hope." Castiel's face paled. "I lost hope that I would ever be able to rescue Sam, that I would ever see you again. How it came to that point is not of import. I just... Dean, I just wanted to tell you that I admire you."

Dean's eyebrows bounced in surprise before they returned to a frown. "So the Devil figured out that you were masquerading as Michael."

"Yes."

"How did you finally escape?"

Castiel smiled slightly. "Sam."

"Sam?"

"He took control of Lucifer again just like he did at Stull Cemetery. It took him lifetimes to reclaim his body. When he did he unshackled me."

An image of Castiel chained to Alastair's rack popped into Dean's mind. He shoved it aside.

"I separated him from Lucifer, blocked his memories and took him home."

Dean felt an itch in the corner of his brain. "You separated them... how?"

"Sam did half the work." Cass glanced up at the kite again and then made eye contact with Dean. "I was so weak that I couldn't have done it without Sam having control of the vessel. That made the difference."

"So it was like when Bobby overpowered that demon who was about the stab me. You got through to Sam."

"Yes. Just like you did in the cemetery." Cass started to turn again but Dean suddenly grabbed his shoulders.

"Cass, if I can get through to you," he gasped, "can't you do the same thing? Overpower that demon - come back to us, just for a minute?"

Castiel scoffed and shook his head. "To what end? You don't have an angel's power to do that. You can't separate that demon from me. "

"Maybe not," said Dean. "But I have an idea about how we can separate _you _from _it_."

* * *

><p>Bobby started the interrogation at dawn. He opened the door to the panic room but didn't even try to restrain the demon in a chair. He knew better, knew to wait for the boys.<p>

"So what do we call you?" Bobby asked the demon in Castiel's body. "Or do I get to name you? How about…Ginger? Polly? Maybe you're a Bianca."

Cass' face stretched into a sneer. "You will either call me your master or your murderer."

"Cute," Bobby snapped. "I wouldn't bet on either if I were you."

The demon paced in a slow circle around the room. "Do you know this vessel? Does it bother you to see him possessed?" He ripped the bandages off of Cass' arms and tossed them on the floor.

Bobby ground his teeth together. He didn't take the bait. "You might as well leave that vessel willingly while you have the chance. We will kill you."

"You might like to know that he respects you a lot. You're the only real father figure he's ever seen, poor thing." He tore off the remaining bandages, exposing Cass' burnt flesh. "And he adores those two boys, especially Dean. He likes to think of himself as their guardian angel. But, in a way, Dean is his. Isn't that sweet?"

Bobby tiptoed around the demon's line of thought. "If you play your cards right, we might even let you go after you leave that vessel." Bobby summoned a lie: "For all I care, you can find another sucker to walk around in. But we won't let you have Castiel."

Cass' head wound had bled all night. Red droplets decorated the floor as well as his t-shirt. "You know what I find fascinating about your little dysfunctional family?"

Bobby rolled his eyes and gave in. "What?"

The demon's eyes switched to black. "I find it fascinating that you think you can win against anything on earth, below it and above it. The arrogance is astounding."

Bobby raised his chin defiantly. "Our track record speaks for itself and it ain't because of luck."

The demon suddenly sped toward Bobby. It stopped right on the edge of the pentacle and glared. "That may be, but I am a new creation. Very soon I'll have the strengths of both a demon and an angel, and none of their weaknesses. And I promise you this," the demon hissed, "you will be the first one I smite."

"Stuff it, asshole," said a voice from the stairs. Dean emerged with Sam behind him. The elder brother had on a new shirt with bandages cris-crossing his body to protect the burns. Sam's wrist was wrapped up but didn't appear to cause him pain. The Winchesters stood on either side of Bobby.

"Let me at him. I have a plan," Dean said.

He stepped into the panic room.

**To Be Continued**


End file.
